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Innocence (Candy and Deviant)

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Ammon paced nervously as he watched the woman on his bed. He had not dealt with mortals in such a long time, he had almost forgotten about their frailty. He promised himself that he would not mourn if she died, surely there was no point to that. She had given herself to him, allowed him to feed in his moment of peril...

Something felt off about that sentiment. His logical mind told him that it had been a fair exchange, he had saved her life and now she had saved his, deal done. Yet he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he had gotten the better deal out of it. He had his life again, the poison purged from his body but she... she would die here without his help...

A flicker of movement caught his eye and he knelt down next to her. Feeling the slightest motion of her hand, he pressed it between his, hoping that it was not her last tremor. Remembering suddenly, he pressed a finger against her neck and felt a beat. A weak one at that but a beat nonetheless. He sighed, an achievement given he had no need to breathe in air but it was a silent prayer of thanks to whatever may have been watching over her.

Ammon pulled up a chair next to her, deciding to watch over her while she slept and recovered. The room was shuttered and shielded from the sun when it would inevitably rise and so he sat there, eyes closed, waiting for this strange woman to rouse.
 
It took Nighten hours before she finally recovered. When Ammon had first taken her in her breathing had been soft and shallow as she clung to life, but as the hours progressed and her body manufactured enough blood to keep her alive, her breathing had grown slow and deep. Hours after her breathing had returned to normal did her eyelids finally flutter open.

Nighten was in pain, her body ached, her neck was sore to the point she couldn't turn her head, and damn was she dizzy. She almost wanted to ask where she was and how she managed to get there but the memories came back to her in a great wave of realization.
She had given her blood, almost her life, to save the man that had saved her. The raven haired woman's heart began to race frantically as she tried to cope with the idea, but Nighten herself wasn't frightened.

"W-where am I?" She asked, voice breaking, her eyes still trying desperately to readjust to the strange surrounds in the hopes that the haze would begin to dissipate. "I-I'm not dead am I?" She was expecting a snort from the blurred figure next to her, surly it had to be Ammon.
 
The figure in the chair did not move but a small smile graced its lips.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," came Ammon's soft voice. "I almost thought you were lost to us."

Externally he was glad but beneath the calm, a torrent of emotions was raging. What was he to do with her now? Turn her out on the streets? And if he did, what would become of her? Would she tell anyone? Surely she couldn't expect to stay here? He'd sat alone with these thoughts for many hours, waiting as her human body recovered. In truth, he had appreciated the rest himself. Although her blood had healed him, he had been pleased to rest and let her body recover from the night's events.

"You gifted me with life, the least I can offer you is my hospitality. Please, do rest, you probably hurt. Can I offer you food? Drink?"
 
The laugh she had been expecting didn't sound at all, to say that she was surprised would have been the understatement of the year, but she was glad for the comment and the smile in his voice.
"It's nice to be back in the world of the living. You certainly aren't the only one who thought I was lost." She admitted with a coloring of her cheeks as the haze finally cleared from her vision.

While Ammon was thinking of what he would do with her, Nighten knew exactly what she was going to do. If he didn't want her around, she would resume life as normal; living down in the subway and get by. She wasn't going to say anything, even if scars were left on her body, who would honestly believe a young woman, a homeless one no less? No one, that was who!

"Thank you, but it was the very least that I could offer you since you offered me mine." At the mention of food, her eyes glittered with want. It had been several days since she had eaten last, her stomach was constantly reminding her that she was hungry. "I'm alright for the moment," she lied, though was happy to just lay there on the soft bed and relax.

There was a long silence between the two before Nighten opened her mouth, her warm gaze locking with his beautiful features, "I'm not going to say anything of what you are. You saved my life and to mention something against you, this secret, would be rude. I won't tell anyone, promise. I promise on my own life." It was the only that she could swear on that meant anything in this world, to a vampire, it meant that he could drain her if she did tell.

"What happened to you when I found you? You don't seem the type to get hurt easily." Her eye went wide and she lifted her hands weakly, waving them in front of her, "I mean not that I know you or anything...or how much pain you can take as a person." That crimson blush had returned to her cheeks as she tried to edit her sentence.
 
The girl was lying, he knew that immediately. Just as the spider watches the fly, the predator knew his prey. Her skin was ash like and sunken, her heartbeat had been strong but suffered from a lack of food. Why she had decided to lie to him, he could not figure and it made him angry. He pushed the thought from his mind, doing his best to be the hospitable host.

"Screamers," he answered. "A type of hellhound, base and depraved but they prey on the weak. It was unusual for them to attack one like me but there were three of them and they were co-ordinated. They took me by surprise. I shall go out later and destroy them."

It had been so long since he'd had company, it took him a while to remember his manners. "I know that you will not say anything of me, not because of some sense of honour but because it will serve you ill to appear mentally unstable which is, of course, what they would assume you were should you go to the authorities with a tale such as yours."

He realised that he had said too much and tried to regain his composure. "However I am grateful for your consideration. Regardless of whether you feel your debt is repaid, I must insist that you stay here while you recover. My home is yours, all I ask is that you do not disturb me while I sleep. Despite what you might think given my nature, you will find the kitchen stocked and able to meet your needs. Perhaps you would care for a bath after the trauma you have been through?"
 
Screamers? She as a little confused by his terminology, but thankfully, he described what they were. Nighten may have never seen a Hellhound, but the image of a foreboding black dog with rows of razor sharp teeth was a good enough image for the little human. "I didn't know there were so many different...things in our world. And people are afraid of aliens." She teased with a light laugh, though fell silent, feeling that maybe it wasn't the best of ideas to start teasing him, just yet.

His next comment though made her eyes grow dark, she was a little hurt to say the least. "The sounding bat shit crazy is part of it, but it's because you saved my life. Why in the hell would I consider hurting the person who saved me? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense as far as logic is concerned." When she herself fell silent, and he thanked her, she sighed and nodded, eyebrows still knitted together.

"You're welcome." At the mention of a bath Night sat up rather quickly, enough to give herself an instant headache, "That sounds amazing. I...I have gotten to take a long bath in god knows how long." There was so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she held her tongue; she was his guest! What sort of guest would ask questions about said 'nature'?

"I'll be sure to be quiet while you sleep, I'm sure there are things I can amuse myself with...like sleeping or twiddling my thumbs, all good options." She teased him again but nervously began to gnaw at her bottom lip, "So um...bathroom, would you point me in the general direction, please?"
 
Ammon lifted himself out of the chair, still moving with some pain, despite her restored wounds. He pushed open the door to reveal a broad landing with stairs leading both up and down. He stood at the door and indicated the environs of his old Victorian style house.

"The kitchen and pantry are on the ground floor, as is the study," he said. "The bathroom lies opposite and there is a lounge and another bedroom on this floor. Above us is my bedroom and the library."

He turned back to her but kept the door open, backing out of it courteously. "The library I feel is... quite extensive. I hope you will enjoy spending some time there at least. Of course, I should mention that the front door is on the ground and is open to you whenever you would wish to use it. You are not my prisoner here. For now though, I will leave you to your ablutions. Feel free to take a look at the clothes in the master bedroom if you wish, there may be something there that suits you. Anything you like, you may feel free to take."

He ducked out of the room and headed down the stairs so that she could have the time to bathe.
 
The moment that Ammon disappeared from sight, Nighten was already peeking her head around the threshold of the door, looking up and down the long hallways. Damn she was going to get so damn lost so quickly! She remember that the top floor was the library and Ammon's room. In that moment she made a mental note: avoid said room unless directly commanded to enter, which she assumed she never would be.

The bottom floor was where the kitchen and the food was, easy enough to remember. The floor where she stood now was where this room, another room and a bathroom stood. Where exactly that bathroom was, she couldn't remember the exacts, but she would mosey around long enough to find it...hopefully.

Stepping out into the hallway, she started down one end, opening doors as she went, almost overjoyed the moment that she saw the pale tiles of the bathroom. It took her less than a minute to strip herself down to nothing and look at her reflection in the vanity mirror. She was damn pale, sickly even, dark rings beneath her eyes and her lips were not their rosy pink, rather they had turned almost as pale as her skin. Her eyes then darted towards the two puncture wounds on her neck.

They were deep, blood, though dried, still clung to the deep holes. Night licked her lips, suddenly realizing how dry they were. With a shaky hand she reached up and touched them. They were damn sensitive, the slightest pressure against them made her wince and recoil her hand. "Well, that's fun." She murmured to herself, turning towards the shower to finally ease some of the ache, hopefully.

About two hours had passed, Nighten honestly could have stayed in their until there was no longer hot running from the shower head, but she had found that her hunger out won the welcoming water.
When she had gone down to the kitchen and pantry, she almost cried when she opened the fridge. There was almost everything that she could ask for. She settled on a rather large, red steak. She knew that most of her blood had been taken, and she was probably running low on iron, what better way to get it than sink your teeth into a red streak?
 
Although he knew he needed longer to rest, Ammon was intregued and excited at the thought of having a house guest. Had he prepared especially for the girl's arrival? He couldn't tell. Either way, his rest was disturbed and he rose not long after Nighten had gone to make herself a meal. He washed himself clean and dressed informally, a clean shirt and waistcoat doing much to refine his appearance.

He didn't go to the kitchen immediately, instead he chose to wait in the shadows, watching the girl eat. Such a simple pleasure but one he had not indulged for some time, oh how he missed it. To see her enjoy what provisions he had laid out was to allow himself to vicariously enjoy her sustenance as if he was eating too. Such thoughts led him to watch her throat and her neck and before long he realised that he was giving the beast inside too much attention. He shook off the thoughts and walked across the hallway, letting his boots click against the marble, as if announcing his presence.

"I am glad to see you have found something to eat," he smiled. "Whenever I have seen you, you appeared hungry so I am glad to feed you."
 
The young woman was more than happy to just look at the food for a long while. She hadn't bothered to look for a fork or a knife, her stomach had simply told her to devour the steak, she was ravenous. The rare steak was better than air at this point, and Nighten couldn't help, she was so hungry!
She hadn't known he had been standing there, watching her eat. She looked probably a mess! The juice from the steak had collected at the corners of her mouth and had even ran down the sides of her face and down over her neck. It wasn't until she heard Ammon that she nearly threw the steak down and gasped.

"I hope I didn't disturb you." Her cheeks instantly turning crimson, nervously wiping away at her mouth with the back of her hand, "To be honest with you, I was hungry, very. I can't remember the last time that I ate something like, this." She looked down at the steak, nibbling at her bottom lip shyly.
 
Poor girl, he thought. He wondered just how much condemnation she had put up with in her life to make her this jumpy. He decided not to address it just yet, not now. He was still weak from his poisonous encounter and she clearly had not eaten for ages. No, he could not be so inhospitable to start asking personal questions so soon.

"Please, eat," he indicated, giving her a rare smile. "You have not eaten, I have a larder full of food. I would be a poor host indeed if I did not let you eat. You need sustenance, please continue."

He remembered something about cooking but it had been so long since he had done so he never thought to ask her about it. For now he enjoyed watching her relax and consume what she needed. It was only when he thought it not rude did he attempt conversation.

"I have plenty more if you want it along with clean water, even wine if you should so desire," he said pleasantly. "Nothing is too good for the hero in my hour of need. How long has it been since you ate a decent meal I wonder...?"
 
Looking at him, watching her, Nighten wondered just what was going through his mind as he watched her. The silence between the two of them was broken by his velvet smooth voice, "Thank you." She murmured, now looking down at the remnants of her meal shyly. She eaten the thing like a starving dog, perhaps Ammon could forgive her this one instance.

His mention of wine made her blink, "I've never had it." She admitted sheepishly, smiling like a child would if they were caught doing something they weren't suppose to. "Better yet, I've never had any sort of alcohol. I'd like to try it, however-" she giggled, "perhaps I can simply wait until I have something to celebrate." The smile in her eyes diminished just as quickly as it had come.

She would be leaving his home soon, and all of this would go back to the way that she remembered. The fear of those hurting her just because they were bored, the stress of wondering where her next meal would come from, better yet, if she would eat at all. Though a blush colored her cheeks when he called her his 'her'.

"I-I um...I couldn't let you die, not after you saved my life." Looking back down at the remaining bits of food on her plate she giggled, "Well,"she had to honestly think about when she last ate. "About two weeks ago I managed to get a couple dollars for a gas station hot dog. Gods, it was the most amazing tasting thing I'd eaten in weeks. Other than that, um, I really can't say when the last time I ate much of anything." Collecting the rest of the meat into her hands, she eat the rest and swallowed the mass in her mouth happily, now she needed water.

Walking over to the tap, she turned it on and washed hands quickly, clearing off the evidence of her meal. Without much though, Night leaned over the counter and began to drink greedily straight from the tap. The water was like a cloud, and gods was it cold!
After her fill, she dried her hands and smiled, "Thank you, I really don't know how else I can show my gratitude for taking me in, even if it's just until I recover."
 
((Sorry for absence, I've been busy!))

Ammon had been alive a long time, long enough to read humans even if it had been a while since he could call himself one. He found their eccentricities fascinating even if their failings made him angry at them sometimes. Nighten's humility was something he had not often seen and for once, he decided that his usual disdain should take a back seat. Without realising it, he had taken in a human who appeared to have fallen on hard times. Two weeks was an insane amount of time to go without food, that much he knew and his honour prevented him from simply casting her out now that his favour had been returned. He stood in front of the door as if to prevent her from leaving.

"Your gratitude is uneccesary," he stated kindly. "You have already repayed me many times over, it is I who is indebted to you. I want you to consider my home yours for as long as you wish to stay. I am... not an easy person to be around. I have found much to fear and dislike in the human race during my time but I am not beyond pity.

Please do stay as long as you wish. Eat as much as you will and rest. My house, my pantry and my library are at your disposal. All I ask is that when I ask something of you that you obey and trust me. I will not harm you now that the hunger is gone but you are straying into a world where there are many who would ravage one such as you. I would see you forgoe that fate while you are within these walls."
 
How he watched her with those eyes of his made her feel instantly naked again, what she was so fascinating about a starving human girl? She was nothing remarkable, or so she felt. Yet he stared at her as if she were some strange creature; by the gods she wanted to ask him what he was staring at. Watching him watch her, she saw him move in front of the door way. Normally she would have been afraid, but her gaze was blank as she stared.

The next comment that eased out of his lips made Nighten choke. Had he just told her to stay as long as she wanted? Surly that was a dangerous idea, wasn't it like putting a lamb in a lion's den? Eventually the lion would kill the lamb, predator and prey. Clearing her throat, a blush coloring her cheeks, she nodded. "I-I thank you for your kindness Ammon. I will obey your rules, hopefully to your um-standards?" Her heart began to race at the thought, "But while I'm here, I... I think it best that I offer you something in return. I ask of you t-that y-you drink my blood when you need. I've offered it to you once before, and-and while I stay, I feel that I should pay something to you whilst living beneath your roof. I insist."
 
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